The latest of the league tables has just been published, and this is the one that the authors claim to be of most use to, and influence on potential students.

The Guardian, unlike other tables, does not include a score for research, but instead allocates 25% of its score to outcomes of the National Student Survey.Also, the percentage of firsts and 2(1)s is not used directly, but instead a factor called “value added” is used, which effectively moderates the good degree score based on student entry characteristics.

So here are the headlines:

• Cambridge remains at number 1
• Climbers include include the Universities of Glynd?r (from 108 to 64), Derby (from 79 to 50) and Falmouth (76 to 53).
• Coventry rises to 27 from 33 last year
• Anglia Ruskin has seen the biggest drop (from 67 to 105), caused in part by a rising student/staff ratio.
• Birmingham City also fell (from 61 to 88), as did Bournemouth (52 to 71), Aberystwyth (88 to 106), Greenwich (70 to 87), Chester (46 to 61) and Bristol (23 to 34).
• London Met have the misfortune of propping up the table this year

And as for Staffordshire, we have risen by two places to 90th. All the work that was done on our HESA returns has paid off, and there has been a big improvement in graduate prospects. It’s clear from looking at the overall data what the next areas are for us to tackle – the whole attainment/satisfaction agenda – but there will be a lot more detail in the subject tables to be produced tomorrow.

Overall, an expected result  –  one that will be improved on in future!